Despite the fact that her friend Eric hated the gym, Anna was still sometimes able to convince him to come along with her. Today was one of those days. It wasn't as though he ever did much. Most of the time, she would wait for him as he spent too long changing into a t-shirt and shorts. Then she would complete a circuit, and he would walk around looking awkwardly at the equipment. But she stubbornly insisted he come along. Afterwards, they would usually go for some sort of unhealthy treat to effectively counteract the effort expended at the gym. At the moment, Eric was standing behind Anna, spotting her as she bench pressed. 'Spotting', really meant that he was standing there, attention shifting between a few of the other females in the gym. Anna's gaze very well may have been on the girls as well, if she wasn't focused on the bar above her head. She raised and lowered the weights with ease, relishing the burn in her shoulders that increased with every repetition. Her arms straightened, then bent again as she went to complete the tenth rep. 

As the bar lowered, a sharp gasp suddenly sounded from Anna. Pain shot through her back, and her arms buckled. Her hands slipped from the metal, and the weighted bar hit her hard in the shoulder. Instantly, Eric's attention was back on his friend, and he rushed forwards to grab the bar. The weights slid off the right side, crashing onto the ground, as he lifted it off of her. "You okay?" he asked urgently. 

Anna nodded, pushing herself up to a sitting position and rubbing her shoulder. "Yeah...yeah, I'm good," she answered, trying to pass it off. She saw several people around the gym staring, but their attention went to other things when they saw there wasn't a serious problem. 

Eric smirked. "Lifting more than you can handle?" he asked, his tone teasing. "Trying to show off for the ladies?" 

He was answered with a sharp elbow to the ribs as Anna stood up. She quickly picked up one of the fallen weights, returning it to the rack. "Shut up. You've seen me lift eighty pounds no problems before. That's a [i]warm-up[/i]. I think I tore something in my back," she explained as she cleaned up the mess of weights she had made. She turned, facing Eric and smiling again as though the entire thing hadn't even happened. "C'mon, I've still got an hour and a half before I've got to be at work. Let's go grab an ice cream or something."